by Sam Cheever
I gulped as the first gargoyle left the floor and bounded the eight feet that separated us in a single leap. His thick, heavy body hit my protective wall and hung there, screeching and whining. As he hit three others left their feet and joined him. I felt a tiny breach in the wall and fought the panic. Not two inches from my face, a set of two inch long slimy green fangs gnawed at my invisible barrier and spewed putrid breath into my air space. Although the power was holding them away from me, it didn’t seem to keep their smell out. A highly regrettable fact. I’d have to work on that.
The wall of power started to soften and give under their onslaught. Panic threatened to close my throat as one of them managed to pierce the barrier with a huge, curved claw and plunge it into my back. I screamed and felt the barrier weaken even more. I could feel them against my body, though I was still covered by a thick padding of power. The pack grew more rabid as they sensed my magic giving way and their knife-like claws began to pierce it all around me. The head ’goyle managed to sink one of his huge canine teeth into the barrier just inches from my face. The razor-sharp fang grazed my flesh, opening it like the skin of a ripe peach. I screamed again. Sensing my panic, he began jerking his head back and forth like a dog with a small mammal in its mouth, spraying foul smelling spit in my face as he ripped the seriously weakened barrier away from me in chunks and slivers. When his efforts had succeeded in opening a space big enough to get both canine teeth through, I decided I’d better do something.
I forced myself to calm down and closed my eyes to concentrate. Another fang pierced the flesh of my arm but I willed myself to ignore the pain and continued my efforts to build the power. I concentrated on pushing it in an arc from my body and felt it hum for a moment before it fizzled away. Something was blocking it. I hadn’t had the power long enough to know what was wrong and how to fix it. But, as the power barrier I’d worked so hard to build and hold finally broke away, agony flared over my entire body. My flesh ripped under the knife-like teeth and claws of the gargoyles. With the unimaginable pain, something broke in my mind and I lost it. As it hadn’t done since I’d been the tiniest of ball busters, my devil came out in a big way.
I opened my eyes and snarled into the ice-witch’s pale, beautiful face. Then, as a bloody chunk of my back was ripped from my body, I flung my head up in a scream of rage that shook the walls of the prison around me. I felt the power build again as my rage and pain grew. I was dimly aware that the gargoyles had flown away from me as I’d unleashed my rage. With my emotional explosion, the power shot out of my body and smashed into the nasty cockroaches, driving them into the stone wall with a sickening thud.
The cross prison started to tumble around me but I ignored it, glaring at Princess Rayanne. She had a look of such anger on her face that it managed the impossible. It made ugly a face that was much too pretty to be real. The last thing I heard was her voice in my head. You and I have many scores to settle, insignificant halfling. Royal or not, you will die before you’ll take my place in his court.
“Definitely another entry for the shitty day book,” I murmured as one of the enormous crosses landed on my broken, bloody body.
Then I closed my eyes to die.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Where Cranky Angels Go
Alas the maiden finds herself in perplexity again,
For death had pounded on her door, but had never been let in.
I awoke in my own bed, with a blanket tucked up under my chin. As I opened my eyes I looked around in confusion for a while, wondering why I was still alive. As soon as I moved I realized that I was wrong, I must be dead because I didn’t feel any pain.
Moving carefully because I couldn’t believe my entire body wouldn’t be broken, I flipped the covers aside and climbed out of bed. The first thing I noticed was that I was completely naked. The second thing I noticed was that I was...completely frunkin’ naked!
So not good.
Moving into the personal hygiene room and ordered the shower jets on full at one hundred four degrees. I climbed under the steaming water and groaned with pleasure as it pounded my skin to a cherry red color. When I emerged, I grabbed the towel I’d flung to the floor the day before and pushed my face into it. A faint whisper of air warned me about half a second before he appeared in front of me, a wicked grin on his gorgeous, golden face.
“Lovely, Astra. How perky you look this morning.”
I pulled the towel around my body with a scowl, trying not to appear as embarrassed as I felt. “Is there something in the devil manual that says you can only haunt your victims when they’re naked and wet?”
Dialle’s smile widened and his velvet eyes twinkled with devilish delight. “Ahh, no my lovely Astra, that rule is one I came up with on my own. It gives me a certain...edge, if you know what I mean.”
“Oh yeah. I know exactly what you mean. Get the Hades out of here and wait for me in the living area. While you’re there, you can make me some coffee. I had a rough night last night.”
Dialle fixed an unreadable black gaze on me. “I see you and I are going to have to have a discussion about how you should show me respect and cower before me.”
I turned my back on him, too tired and stressed out to care if he ate me. “Yeah, yeah, I’m terrified of you. Now go away.”
I continued to ignore him until I heard the whisper of air. Then I let the tension leave my body and closed my eyes on a sigh of relief. “I really need to start hanging out with a better crowd.” I muttered under my breath.
I left the personal hygiene room and returned to my sleeping chamber, hoping to get dressed. Silly me, I was totally not expecting to be blasted off my feet as I entered the room. The force that hit my chest drove me against the wall with an intensity that ripped the air right out of my lungs. My shoulder came into painful contact with my favorite holographic painting of a fake country scene and it fell off the wall, crashing into pieces on the floor.
Before I could regain my breath on a foul curse, invisible hands grasped me around my waist and lifted me three feet into the air, where I promptly lost my towel and my last shred of dignity. Hanging there, legs and arms flailing as I fought my invisible enemy, I heard his voice in my head.
My dear Astra, though I find your company entertaining and your lips quite inviting, It appears I need to remind you that I could kill you more quickly than you can say my name. Do not ever forget it!
He lowered me so my feet could again touch the floor and, shimmering into view with his hands still on my waist, pressed himself against me and kissed me so deeply I thought he was going to eat me after all.
I was intensely aware of my nudity as he started to run his hands over my body. I wanted to pull away and hit him. I really wanted to—in my brain—but my body couldn’t get close enough to his body. My traitorous arms wound themselves around his narrow waist and pulled him more tightly against me, which wasn’t easy to do, let me tell you. He responded by removing his lips from mine and running his tongue down my chin, where he suckled gently until I thought I was gonna die from pleasure.
“Oh god,” I moaned, throwing back my head to give him free reign of my neck. If he’d been a vampire or a werewolf I would have been dead. Since I apparently had no control over my body, I realized it was up to my brain to stop me from mounting him like a horny dog and riding him until I keeled over from exhaustion.
It took only a few, lovely, minutes for my brain to kick in and force my arms to push him away. His hands slid across my buttocks as he let me shove him back, leaving a tingly, warm trail where his fingers had been. He smiled down at me. “Now about that coffee.”
I gasped hot, lust-charged air into my lungs and scooted away on wobbly legs. “I’ll get it. As soon as I get dressed.”
“Thanks, I like mine black, like my soul.”
“Har.”
~SC~
Dialle and I sat across from each other at my small table in the food service area. We sipped coffee in silence, sizing each other up.
> I needed to ask him a question but I was too embarrassed. Finally I decided that nothing could be more embarrassing than being accosted, dripping wet and naked from your hygiene unit and then throwing yourself at your accoster like a brood mare in season.
Mentally I shrugged and spit out the question. “Did you put me to bed last night?”
I really hated him when he raised that one, black eyebrow and grinned. “Why lovely Astra, what a strange question to ask. Don’t you even know who you kept company with last night?”
I scowled at him and tried to remember how to kill devil royalty. He was damned lucky I couldn’t think of anything. “Just answer the question, Dialle.”
He took a sip of his coffee. Obviously he was deliberately taking his time answering to provoke me. Finally he set the mug down and gave me his most innocent expression. “Alas, I’m sorry to say it wasn’t me. But, if I might suggest, perhaps it would be best if you took more care for how you spent your evenings.”
“Bite me.”
He shrugged. “If you insist.”
I really had to stop saying that. “What have you and your evil princess done with Prince Nille?”
Dialle fixed me with his piercing, black eyes. “He is not your concern.”
“I’ll decide who’s my concern and who isn’t.”
He became very still and stared at me until I felt the need to say something to diffuse the tension. As usual, I resorted to being a smart ass. “Do I need to kick your ass again?”
He laughed, successfully distracted from killing me. “Why are you so interested in Prince Nille?”
I shrugged in what I hoped was a nonchalant manner. “I have my reasons.”
“And what might they be?”
I sipped my coffee. Maybe if I ignored him he’d go away.
“I’m not leaving until you tell me why you’re interested in Prince Nille.” He sat back and crossed his long legs, watching me expectantly.
Setting my coffee down on the table with more force than was necessary, I blew out a frustrated breath. “Oh, okay, dammit, I’ll tell you...”
Two quick chimes sounded before a disembodied voice announced the name of my unexpected visitor. Smiling smugly I stood up, vowing to kiss Kayla for her wonderful timing. “I believe that’s your cue to go.”
He didn’t even bother to stand up. Giving me a spine-softening smile, he ran a spectral finger down my chin and trailed it the length of my throat, stopping at the spot where my breasts started to curve. I shivered under the whisper soft touch. “We haven’t finished this conversation, lovely Astra,” he said, before shimmering away.
I opened the door to a smiling Kayla. Pulling her into the room, I gave her a hug. I was really glad to see her.
She laughed as I let her go. “That was quite a greeting. I know we haven’t seen each other for a while, Astra, but you seem really glad to see me.”
I laughed it off. “I’ve just missed you, that’s all. How’s your love life?”
I knew that would distract her. She started into an hour-long diatribe about the latest “crashin” guy who’d turned out, surprise surprise, to be an asshole. While she explained to me with a bright smile how his desertion had nearly killed her, I ran through my mental checklist of things I needed to do in my search for Prince Nille.
Last on the list was to come up with a plausible story for Dialle explaining why I cared. That was going to be the hardest task on my list. Hence its location at the bottom. I’ve never been real good at tackling things I don’t want to tackle.
I nodded my way through Kayla’s latest love saga and then gave her a hug and pushed her out the door. I could only hope she didn’t notice how distracted I was. She’d been my friend since I was old enough to have a friend and we were like sisters, which was why I didn’t want her anywhere near me right at that moment. It was bad enough I was volunteering to be a pig on the spit for a spiritual hog roast, I didn’t want anyone I cared about getting their porky-pies cooked with me.
As soon as Kayla left I grabbed my coat and headed for the Viper. Finding Deaver’s assistant was my next obstacle. The best place to start was at the Church of the Twined Hands. Maybe there was something in the office that would help me with my search.
I suddenly remembered my missed appointment with DD Raoul and realized he would either be pissed or concerned. The fact that he hadn’t called me would indicate that he was pissed. Sighing over the complications of my life, I touched the fingerprint pad on the Viper’s televisual and said, “Transmission. DD Raoul.”
The screen filled with jagged lines as the transmission went out and then his face swam into view. He looked tired. “Hey, pretty lady. You stood me up last night.”
I felt the sharp pinch of relief in my gut. He wasn’t mad. “Sorry Raoul, it couldn’t be helped. I got myself into a jam that involved those things we were gonna’ talk about last night. I’m on my way to the Church of the Twined Hands now. Do you think you could meet me there?”
DD Raoul looked down screen as if he were checking his solar watch. He frowned. “I have a meeting in 10 minutes, it shouldn’t take long. Can I meet you there in about 40 minutes?”
I nodded gratefully. “Thanks, DD. I owe ya one.”
His dark face split into a weary grin. “Oh, no Astra. You owe me at least two. Lunch at my favorite restaurant might be the only way you can pay off your debts.”
I frowned. “I don’t see how your buying me lunch will settle my accounts, but if you insist, who am I to deny you.”
He laughed. “I’ll see you soon.” His face faded from the screen with a soft crackle.
~SC~
Bridge Street was busier than usual. Of course I’d only really been to the church in the dead of night before, when most sane people are locked safely in their cozy abodes. For a few minutes, I sat in the Viper and watched people come and go from the various buildings on the street. Then, when the street was pretty much empty, I got out of the Viper and climbed the well-worn stone steps to the front door.
The door was locked and the building looked sad and deserted. However, I wasn’t fooled. It had also looked deserted when I’d had my little coffee klatch with the evil Rayanne and her drooling minions the night before.
Glancing around to make sure no one was looking, I shot my thief’s laser into the keyhole and let myself in. Natural light shone through the gold-tinted round windows, which were set high in the stone walls and illuminated the staircase. I climbed swiftly, hoping the evil dark Barbie and her hairless, cranky pets weren’t still hanging around upstairs.
I followed the hallway to Deaver’s office and let myself in. The police tape had already been shredded away from the door, which had probably been locked at one time, but which currently stood open, its frame splintered and pulled away from the wall where the lock had been. Two inches of an old-fashioned deadbolt lock jutted away from the inside edge of the door. I briefly wondered what kind of strength would be needed to rip a deadbolt right through solid, age hardened oak like it was paper. I decided I didn’t want to know.
Naturally, the office was a mess, but it was the kind of mess that would have been left behind by the Strange Death squad rather than an intruder. Which made me wonder why the door had been bashed in.
Deaver’s desk was locked. I used my handy dandy laser again to remedy that little problem. Inside the large, shallow drawer in the center of the desk, I found a lot of lint and discarded writing utensils and not much else. The deeper drawers on the side were filled with old sermons and personal as well as church correspondence. I ruffled through these with little hope of finding anything useful. Then I turned to the information unit sitting on top of the desk.
The system was old and had only the most basic security layer in place, which I was able to bypass without even breaking a sweat. I quickly found the address log and Deaver’s assistant’s address within it. “Copy file.” I waited for the ancient machine to copy Susan Cooper’s address and personal information onto the cylindric
al memory bar I’d inserted into it. While I waited, I did a visual scan of the office.
On the surface the room appeared to be unchanged from the day Deaver had met his brutal end there. However, I sent out my sensing power and quickly picked up the residual aura of some kind of dark presence. Surprisingly though, the evil was overlaid with a bright light that would indicate the other side had also visited recently. I frowned and jumped when the unit announced completion of the data transfer. Pulling the cylinder from the unit, I dropped it into my coat pocket and, looking at my watch, decided to dig around a bit more before DD Raoul showed up to spoil my fun.
It took me only a couple of minutes to find the records Deaver had been keeping on Prince Nille’s captivity. I began to scan the file, which was written in diary form, apparently from Deaver’s point of view. Just for grins I retrieved the memory bar from my pocket and re-inserted it into the unit. “Copy file.” The unit whirred as the information in Deaver’s diary file started to duplicate onto the memory cylinder:
Year 2096, eighth month, day five
I know I should not trust him, but somehow I do. He begged me again today to save him. His pale eyes filled with tears as he told me once more of the nightmares he’d been having. He said that “they” were responsible for the dreams and that he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out.
Indeed, he does seem to be in a fragile state. He says the dreams are so real that he wakes up imagining that his flesh has been ripped apart. I promised him I was still searching for the key to his prison. He seemed so sad, as if he knew I would fail.
Year 2096, eighth month day six
He seemed stronger when I arrived this morning. He even managed to smile at me. He spoke to me of his world and told me that there were forces of good and evil at work that would soon change both the spirit and human worlds beyond return. He told me the Devil Court had been fractured for nearly two thousand years and would soon be forged into one Royal Court. The battle he found himself at the center of was for control of that ultimate ruling body. He seems to have no loyalty to his own people, indeed he seems not to trust them. I left him with my usual promise that I was making progress. I need to talk to Susan...